Rza

Call the RZA hip-hop's foremost alchemist. The self-professed former drug dealer-turned-Grammy-winning rapper-producer has defied all odds to spin not lead into gold, but démodé pop culture and arcane philosophical beliefs into platinum disc upon platinum disc. And now, after spending years under the tutelage of several high-profile filmmakers, including Quentin Tarantino, he's preparing to unleash his unique mash-up sensibility on the big screen, in a project that will be part chop-socky flick, part spaghetti western and all RZA. As founding father of the hard-core Staten Island rap collective Wu-Tang Clan, RZA (pronounced "rizza," given name: Robert Diggs)

When the Wu-Tang Clan announced they would manufacture, and auction off, just one copy of a long-in-the-works secret album, the news was met with obvious intrigue. Who would shell out the money for the rarity -- and how much would a given collector be willing to spend? "Offers came in at $2 million, somebody offered $5 million yesterday," Wu-Tang's de facto leader RZA told Billboard on Wednesday . “I've been getting a lot of emails: some from people I know, some from people I don't know, and they're also emailing other members of my organization.” "So far, $5 million is the biggest number.

August 16, 2013 | By Randall Roberts, Los Angeles Times Pop Music Critic

When Earl Sweatshirt's new album, "Doris," is released Tuesday, fans will note the presence of the L.A.-based production team Christian Rich on four tracks. In addition to the first single, “Chum,” the pair -- twin brothers Tai and Kehinde Hassan -- played key roles in the production of the strange and magnetic tracks “Centurion” and “Knight,” as well as the RZA-co-produced “Molasses.” The brothers have been on a roll of late, having produced "Sparks Will Fly" for J. Cole's breakout album "Born Sinner," and two others for Chris Brown's forthcoming full length release.

RZA is the latest artist to pay tribute to Paul Walker. After news broke Saturday that the star of the “Fast & Furious” franchise had died in a single-car accident , the de facto Wu-Tang Clan frontman crafted a track in tribute to the actor, which he posted on his SoundCloud page Sunday. The rough demo, “Destiny Bends,” is a moving ballad with a simple arrangement and a raw vocal from up-and-coming singer Will Wells. RZA noted that he composed the track with his two sons.

As a producer and artist, RZA has exhibited vision and a clear understanding of what the people want. And though his rhymes lack the fluidity of, say, fellow Wu-Tang Clan member Method Man's, they are certainly above average. That he has all of this talent only made his show at the El Rey Theatre on Wednesday that much more frustrating. A triple bill with Wu-Tang in the house all night, the show ended up being a disorganized vehicle for promoting Wu-Tang proteges Black Nights and Killarmy.

When representatives of the Los Angeles Film Festival approached groundbreaking rap producer and rising film composer the RZA about contributing something unique to their event, he thought about his childhood in Staten Island, N.Y., when he watched older DJs in his neighborhood play records synced to cartoons.

"The Man With the Iron Fists" is a wildly whirling martial arts spectacle with an endless array of exotic knives, a penchant for Zen philosophizing and an unquenchable thirst for blood. It may just be one of the best bad movies ever. I do not confer such infamy lightly, but the flaws are far more amusing than infuriating and its director/writer/star, RZA of Wu-Tang Clan fame, is mesmerizing. There is nothing subtle about the film, including its abject devotion to classic kung fu fare.

POP MUSIC The lauded but erratic Staten Island posse Wu-Tang Clan is untouchable in the hip-hop canon but has yet to recapture the menace and magic of its early records. But it has tightened its live sets considerably in recent years, and no one can match the range of the group's talents, from RZA's slinky noir beats to the eccentric virtuosity of Ghostface and Method Man's weedy bonhomie. Club Nokia, 777 Chick Hearn Court, L.A. 9 p.m. Sat. $41.50-$61.50. clubnokia.com.

Loud. With 1995's "Only Built 4 Cuban Linx . . . " this Staten Island rapper released what many consider the best solo album from a member of the Wu-Tang Clan. Chock-full of brutal, slang-drenched tales of struggle and backed by the RZA's riveting production, the low-profile Raekwon became a hip-hop hero.

Musical obsessions are some of life's great pleasures, and "Doris," the latest album by Los Angeles rapper and Odd Future member Earl Sweatshirt, 19, has lived in my car at huge volume for a month now. I'll confess to crawling up next to cars blasting "Molasses," a dubby, reggae-rolling jam co-produced by RZA and Christian Rich, sonic humble-bragging my way through L.A. I know the nooks and crannies of this baby - Earl rapping "new patterns, paddy-caking with...

August 16, 2013 | By Randall Roberts, Los Angeles Times Pop Music Critic

When Earl Sweatshirt's new album, "Doris," is released Tuesday, fans will note the presence of the L.A.-based production team Christian Rich on four tracks. In addition to the first single, “Chum,” the pair -- twin brothers Tai and Kehinde Hassan -- played key roles in the production of the strange and magnetic tracks “Centurion” and “Knight,” as well as the RZA-co-produced “Molasses.” The brothers have been on a roll of late, having produced "Sparks Will Fly" for J. Cole's breakout album "Born Sinner," and two others for Chris Brown's forthcoming full length release.

As Times pop music critic Randall Roberts wrote in a recent profile , Earl Sweatshirt is building a complicated relationship with fame -- even as his upcoming major-label debut promises (or threatens) to bring it closer. The L.A.-based rapper -- part of the Odd Future collective that's also given us Frank Ocean and Tyler, the Creator -- takes a hard look at that relationship in his song "Burgundy," which he performed Friday on "Late Night with Jimmy Fallon. " "My grandma's passing, but I'm too busy trying to get this stinking album cracking to see her," he raps over the Roots' instrumental backing, "My priorities messed up, I know it / I'm afraid I'm gonna blow it. " PHOTOS: Concerts by The Times If that weren't clear enough, notice that he spends the first third of the three-minute performance offstage (and the rest of it nearly swallowed up by his oversized hoodie)

Even before the release of her debut album, the English singer Jessie Ware was attracting next-big-thing buzz with appearances on tracks by cutting-edge dance-music artists such as SBTRKT and Joker. But she wasn't born hip. "Growing up, I was the person told about things by other mates - the tastemakers," Ware admitted recently, adding that she also discovered music the way many teenagers did in the pre-YouTube era: through pop radio and MTV. "I copied every move from Jennifer Lopez's videos and studied every breakdown in Montell Jordan's songs," she said, referring to the R&B singer who hit No. 1 in 1995 with "This Is How We Do It. " "I wasn't at the forefront of new, new music.

In a scene in the ultra-violent kung fu saga “The Man With the Iron Fists” - a movie written, directed and co-starring Wu-Tang Clan's founding father and sonic architect the RZA - the hip-hop superstar-turned-filmmaker portrays a runaway slave. He survives a shipwreck and washes up on a rocky shoreline in China more dead than alive and is discovered by a band of kung fu monks. These Wu Chi disciples bring the character back to health and set him on a righteous path, teaching him philosophy, acupuncture pressure points, discipline - the way of the Wu. If the monks sequence in “Man With the Iron Fists” seems like a metaphor for how the Tao of the Wu forever changed the rapper-director's destiny, that's because, well, it is. “To me, that philosophy part had to be in there, yo,” RZA said.

When the Wu-Tang Clan announced they would manufacture, and auction off, just one copy of a long-in-the-works secret album, the news was met with obvious intrigue. Who would shell out the money for the rarity -- and how much would a given collector be willing to spend? "Offers came in at $2 million, somebody offered $5 million yesterday," Wu-Tang's de facto leader RZA told Billboard on Wednesday . “I've been getting a lot of emails: some from people I know, some from people I don't know, and they're also emailing other members of my organization.” "So far, $5 million is the biggest number.

As Times pop music critic Randall Roberts wrote in a recent profile , Earl Sweatshirt is building a complicated relationship with fame -- even as his upcoming major-label debut promises (or threatens) to bring it closer. The L.A.-based rapper -- part of the Odd Future collective that's also given us Frank Ocean and Tyler, the Creator -- takes a hard look at that relationship in his song "Burgundy," which he performed Friday on "Late Night with Jimmy Fallon. " "My grandma's passing, but I'm too busy trying to get this stinking album cracking to see her," he raps over the Roots' instrumental backing, "My priorities messed up, I know it / I'm afraid I'm gonna blow it. " PHOTOS: Concerts by The Times If that weren't clear enough, notice that he spends the first third of the three-minute performance offstage (and the rest of it nearly swallowed up by his oversized hoodie)

"The Man With the Iron Fists" is a wildly whirling martial arts spectacle with an endless array of exotic knives, a penchant for Zen philosophizing and an unquenchable thirst for blood. It may just be one of the best bad movies ever. I do not confer such infamy lightly, but the flaws are far more amusing than infuriating and its director/writer/star, RZA of Wu-Tang Clan fame, is mesmerizing. There is nothing subtle about the film, including its abject devotion to classic kung fu fare.

The band called thenewno2 sounds good -- whether in the deep abyss of headphones or in the open space of the Amoeba Music store in Hollywood, where the group was celebrating the release of its second album, "The Fear of Missing Out" -- as well as band member Dhani Harrison's 34th birthday. The rock, dub, electro, indie and psychedelic sounds coming from the back of the store, behind the rows of CDs, was thick and full from that compact stage. “Thanks for that,” Harrison (of the George Harrison Harrisons)